Ocean Odyssey Week 1: Introduction


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Goals:

  • Introduce the topic/goals to the students
  • Make sure everyone knows each others' names
  • Set the stage for ocean study
  • Start to get to know LEGO vocabulary
  • Free build/craft around ocean theme

Set up/resources needed:

Name tags or button blanks
Bag of different types of LEGO's -- each bag with the same pieces, 1 bag per pair
Ocean craft -- wax crayons/water/paint brushes/blue paint (tempera) - best with sparkles!
Boxes of LEGOs.
Snack

Team tips

Make sure all kids and all parents know each others' names. Names are an extremely important part of team building. Start out by making name buttons or coloring name tags, introduce each other by their name and something about themselves.

Writing out the agenda lets everyone know what's coming and how to pace themselves. Be aware of those who aren't strong readers yet.

Everyone has different learning styles: auditory, kinesthetic, visual. Any time you can present things in all different modalities, the students will be more engaged and learn more.

The first few weeks will be team norming -- setting expectations, working through communication differences, getting to know each other. Move students around in smaller groups to work with each other, help them with communication tools, set them up for success... Life skills are a big part of this process.

Agenda

JrFLL Ocean First Meeting 081.JPG


Write out agenda on the easel so kids know what's coming and they can pace themselves


















Get to know each other:
As families come in, color a name button/name tag for everyone (adults included!)
  • Buttons: picture of LEGO's, ocean items, robots or their own design -- but make names big enough to read -- these buttons will stay at the meeting place and they'll get them each time and take them off when the session's over

Introduction:
What our goal is in 10 weeks:
We'll decide team names, what to build.
Display at a JrFLL Open House on Aug 25, 2012.

JrFLL Ocean First Meeting 007.JPG
Intro to oceans:
Brainstorm oceans (& zones) on the big white board -- what types of things do they know about each area and what things live there. The visual, auditory parts appeal to more. Reduce amount of reading if any students are young enough to make reading not easy.
Discuss zones/topics being discussed in the next 10 weeks.

Watch video:
http://movies.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=70208791&trkid=3325943&t=Discover+Planet+Ocean
Watch the first 5 minutes with no sound and slowing things down to talk about what's there...

Talk through photos:
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/human-planet/pictures/ocean-pictures.html


Intro to LEGO pieces
external image 2012-06-11%252010.29.56.jpg
  • In pairs, pass out bags of similar pieces
  • Have students sort them all into types -- how do they do it?
    • Some of ours used color, function, strange definitions!
  • Scavenger hunt -- look for specific pieces by name -- try adding it to another piece
  • Build something as a pair with these pieces to see how they go together -- can they put every piece together?

JrFLL Ocean First Meeting 023.JPG


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What they built:
AD & LS: The Working Mansion
RD & CH: The Masher
JW &NC: The Boat Grabber
MM & EL: Catapult house
LH & GM: Diving Board of Death
JJ & ZS: Fast Zip Al 10,000
AJ & DM: Sea Watcher

The Sea Watcher.JPG
The Sea Watcher



SNACK
JrFLL Ocean First Meeting 086.JPG

Divide out -- can do one or the other or both...





-- An ocean craft (paint/wax crayons/blue tempera)



-- Build ocean scene free-build with LEGO's...

Free LEGO Build.JPG
Ocean scene

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Wrap up
When they run out of sit patience -- turn in name button in -- and tell one thing that they learned or liked about today's class -- that gets written on the white board.

What they learned or the favorite part of Week 1

MM: I liked building with LEGOs.
JW: My favorite thing? Building with LEGOs, of course!
GM: I learned building with LEGOs was even more fun than I thought.
LH: Building with LEGOs.
JJ: I learned that the ocean was way bigger than I thought.
ZS: Everybody's name
RD: Names of LEGO parts
NC: I learned how to make ships today.
CH: I learned how to make inventions today.
AD: My favorite part was the crafts.
AJ: Building the Sea Watcher
LS: The different names of the LEGOs.
DM: Building the Sea Watcher

Clean up